The Ending of 'Voltron' Season 7, Explained by the Showrunners

Why getting back to Earth was about "perspective."

After a long, difficult journey, the Paladins of Voltron are finally back on Earth. But the fight isn’t over yet. As fans witnessed in the Season 7 ending of Voltron Legendary Defender, now streaming on Netflix, Earth went through some seriously seismic changes.

Acknowledging the existence of aliens is one thing. Engaging in actual war with them? That’s some next level stuff right there.

In an interview with Inverse, series showrunners Lauren Montgomery and Joaquim Dos Santos break down Season 7 of Voltron Legendary Defender, including the big ending that changes the universe of Voltron as we know it.

Spoilers for Voltron Legendary Defender Season 7 ahead.

Getting Home Was About “Perspective”

“We thrust them into this crazy intergalactic saga, and then they’re in it, and you lose a little bit perspective on just how big everything is,” Dos Santos says. “Bringing things back to Earth put things in perspective. Getting them back home, where we could see from the outside how far our heroes have actually come before we embark on our final season.”

“We were always going to get back to [Earth], it just wasn’t the first thing out of the gate we wanted to do,” adds Montgomery. “We wanted these guys to prove themselves as heroes first.”

The Next Generation

While Voltron Legendary Defender isn’t setting up Vehicle Voltron (yet?), Montgomery and Dos Santos both wanted to instill a sense of legacy and plant the seeds for what could be the next generation of Voltron pilots.

“The ‘new generation’ is the possibility for the series to expand beyond the Voltron saga itself,” says Dos Santos. The producer adds that they’re hoping to create enough material for an expanded universe. “In an ideal situation we’ll have novels [that explore things] like the Blade of Marmora, the Galaxy Garrison.”

“We believe there is a huge world and many stories just to be told on Earth,” Dos Santos adds. “It was important to us to make it clear that Earth kept going. The world doesn’t stop just so Voltron can happen somewhere else. Earth is still dealing with stuff.”

Borders

It’s been awhile since the Paladins have been on Earth. As Dos Santos tells Inverse, getting them back home was about bringing a sense of perspective.

The Paladins of Voltron in Season 7.

Shortly after defeating Sendak, Earth and the Galaxy Garrison has welcomed refugees that fell victim to the Galra Empire. But will Earth be so welcoming? According to the showrunners, yes.

As they told Inverse last time in regards to Lance’s Cuban heritage, Earth has become so progressive and open that welcoming space aliens is no big deal. “We tried to set up a world that is, hopefully a little further along than the one we currently reside in,” says Montgomery. “Minds are a little more open.”

Sure, there’s still some hard-nosed skepticism — the character of Admiral Sanda is meant to represent those views — but Earth, in the world of Voltron, has gotten over things like differences.

“There is a generational peace that can be hand between aliens and Earth. Humans being a peace-loving race. If there’s evil aliens, yeah they’ll fight back, but we have so much crap happening in the real world we didn’t want to go far too into it in this show.”

A throwaway line about a “World War III” may have more impact than viewers may assume. “We didn’t work out the logistics of World War III in the writer’s room, we kept it nice and nebulous,” Dos Santos says, “We knew it was something that happened and led to everybody on the planet realizing war sucks. We’re one Earth.”

The Mysterious Altean

Finally, the closing moments of Season 7 hint at what’s to come in the final eighth season. In the enemy war machine that both Voltron and the Galaxy Garrison (in the new mech, Atlas) valiantly defeated, there was an actual, living Altean inside.

While answers will certainly be revealed in Season 8, Dos Santos and Montgomery advise viewers to rewatch the season and keep their eyes peeled for clues.

Says Montgomery: “There’s been a few allusions what’s happening in Season 7. We have Allura and Coran wanting to find where those Alteans are, meeting up with Kolivan again, learning the Blades were sent to save the colony but the colony was gone. So we know there are Alteans out there, and now we know where one of them has ended up. I think we’ll wait and see the story behind that There’s more story to be told.”